“The Lesson” is a short story written by Toni Cade Bambara. This story tells about the effects that social inequality can have on children. It also goes to show that race and financial situations can help motivate children to make a better future for themselves. It is a story about a young African-American girl named Sylvia and her growing understanding of class inequality. The children’s educator Miss Moore introduces the facts of social inequality to the underprivileged group of children‚ of
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“The Lesson”‚ by Toni Cade Bambara is about a girl named Sylvia. She expresses her feelings over her experience at an expensive toy story that her teacher‚ Ms. Moore‚ takes her and her friends to. This trip was designed to teach them the reality of the world and to show them the things they cannot afford in life. Not only why they cannot afford them‚ but to show them that they can be the types of people that can. She aims towards showing Sylvia and the other students how to achieve a better lifestyle
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Coping With Life Challenges Toni Cade Bambara‚ born March 25‚ 1939 in New York City; her mother was Helen Brent Henderson Cade. Bambara adopted that last name when she discovered it on a sketchbook her great-grandmother had. Bambara spent the first ten years of her life in Harlem‚ New York. In 1973‚ she published and essay in Redbook explaining what she liked about her mother. Bambara is an activist‚ novelist‚ writer‚ essayist‚ and a filmmaker. Bambara was influenced by her work as a social
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Toni Cade Bambara’s short story “The Lesson” is told from the perspective of a young girl named Sylvia. Sylvia is not the most reliable reliable narrator as a result of her age and upbringing- she forms opinions of others based on how they relate to her life; if a completely innocent person happens to affect her life in a way that inconveniences her‚ he or she will be portrayed only in a negative light whether or not this is deserved. Throughout the story‚ she frames her Miss Moore‚ who is her neighbor
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In Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson”‚ we learn about the experience a group of school children have at F.A.O. Schwartz in Manhattan. These children aren’t wealthy and have lived in a secluded bubble until Miss Moore‚ one of the few people in the neighborhood to complete a college education exposes them to the true inequalities in life. The short story is narrated in the first person by one of the girls named Sylvia. She presents herself as confident and is seen as a leader by the other children‚ but
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Toni Cade Bambara’s short story‚ "The Lesson‚" takes place in inner city New York. The main character‚ Sylvia‚ is a fourteen year old African American girl‚ who tells the story in a first person narrative. Sylvia mentions Miss Moore‚ a teacher who felt that it was her duty to help underprivileged children learn. Miss Moore felt there was a lesson to learn at FAO Schwartz‚ a very expensive‚ upper class toy store in downtown Manhattan. The reason Miss Moore brings the children to FAO Schwartz is captured
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“The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara is a narrative told by a young black girl named Sylvia. The main theme of the story is social inequality for African-Americans. Miss Moore is an educated laby who lives in the same neighborhood that Sylvia lives in. Miss Moore’s intelligence and education allows her to take the children out for educated lessons. One day Miss Moore takes the children out to the city to visit the toy store F.A.O Schwartz‚ in an attempt to show the children something that they would
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not afford anything in there. The trip helped Sylvia realize that she could be more than what she was. I bet it gave her many thoughts of what she could be and what she deserved in life. Miss Moore is trying to teach them various lessons in this story. One of the lessons is that poor people need to get up and work for what they deserve “poor people have to wake up and demand their share of the pie”. She wanted them to understand that they needed to get out of the dump they lived in and fight for a
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Within The Lesson‚ written by Toni Cade Bambara‚ the question of inequality and poverty arises in response to the juxtaposition of the two neighborhoods in the story‚ Harlem and Manhattan. Bambara introduces children as the most important occupants of a typical New York slum‚ mainly in regards to their ability to escape the constraints of their own environment. As highlighted in the story‚ the elders of this African American community have accepted the social inequality and the economic conditions
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The short story‚ “The Lesson‚” by Toni Cade Bambara‚ portrays one of the most interesting themes in literature‚ the initiation story. The story illustrates a group of kids who live in the slums in New York city. They are unaware of their environment‚ and Ms. More is conscious of this situation. In a basis‚ she teaches the kids life lessons to help them strive for success and attempt to better themselves and their situations. In this occasion‚ she brings them to a toy story‚ but not just a common
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